Following the cancellation of his visit to Haiti, President Hipolito Mejia explained that the principal reason was to preclude his becoming a focus of political conflict within the neighboring nation, by aligning himself either with President-elect Jean Bertrand Aristide or his opponents. The opposition in Haiti has rejected the validity of the election that brought Aristide to power. Mejia spoke shortly after canceling the trip he was scheduled to take at 8:30 a.m. and which was suspended, initially citing security reasons. "There’s no problem so far. But I didn’t want to become the cause of conflict there, neither for the opposition nor for President Aristide."
